Belgium: "The Wallonia-Brussels Federation decided to withdraw €3 M from universities" (F. Smets)

"The Wallonia-Brussels Federation announced it would cut €3 M from the higher education budget, which they intend to compensate for by raising the tuition fee for non-European students", indicates Françoise Smets, Professor, Rector of the University of Louvain and President of the French-speaking Rectors' Council (Cref) of Belgium, in an interview with News Tank on 05/12/2024.

"The evolution in spending per student between 2006 and 2021 in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation has been positive overall for compulsory education, but down 10% for higher education and almost 25% for universities specifically", she adds.

She explains that overall, the increase in students has been much faster than the increase in funding, making universities in the Federation some of the least well-funded European institutions per student, with a gap of 20% on average with other European institutions.

The new Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation was elected in June 2024. "In a memorandum, we called for higher education to be refinanced, and in the Community policy statement they mention opening up…